General Practice Assistant - Care Homes

Job Description
Job summary
We are seeking an enthusiastic and well-organised General Practice Assistant to work within Kendal PCN. The post-holder will work closely with the PCN Care Home Team and the PCN Clinical Director, and through their work will support the three GP Practices in Kendal The James Cochrane Practice, Station House Surgery and Captain French Surgery. You will help to deliver the proactive individualised care home service that we have developed for these vulnerable and complex patients in recent years. You will be able to develop strong relationships across our practices while working largely from the Care Homes and PCN Hub, with scope to work from surgery premises and conduct home visits as required.
This exciting new role has lots of scope for development, so we are looking for someone who can adapt as the role evolves to support the Care Home Team and Kendal PCN. The General Practice Assistant role is varied, with a mix of administration and patient-facing clinical work, ultimately freeing up clinician time to focus on the patient. Your work will support our GPs in fulfilment of their work toward PCN contracts, including the indicators in the Impact and Investment Fund, QOF and the Covid Vaccination Programme. The successful candidate will have good patient communication skills, as you will liaise with patients, families and medical staff to arrange appointments and carry out simple clinical work, as well as an eye for detail as you review the work that needs to be done.
Main duties of the job
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Work closely as part of the PCN Care Home Team and attend monthly meetings
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Completing simple clinical observations & investigations as directed locally, such as dipstick urine, taking blood pressure, ECGs, diabetic foot checks, support stocking measurements and phlebotomy
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Completing Care Home learning disability reviews and maintaining the review spreadsheet that details long term condition reviews, care plans and structured medication reviews
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Conducting IT searches to ascertain patient registration with the nearest GP Practice and encourage re-registration with patients, families and staff when required
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Completing basic (non-opinion) forms and core elements of some forms for the GP to approve
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Supporting the PCN with immunisations, including the Covid and Flu Vaccination Programmes for Care Homes, Housebound patients and the dedicated clinics
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Support administration of the Covid and Flu Vaccination Programmes
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Administration and support for the KICC Team
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Arranging appointments, referrals, tests and follow up appointments
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Support achievement of QOF and Impact and Investment Fund indicators
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Build and maintain good relationships with wider practice teams
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Communicate in a friendly and professional manner
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Communicate information clearly to a variety of groups, including healthcare professionals and patients
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Have good technological skills
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Be willing to learn new skills and adapt to PCN needs
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Good timekeeping and ability to meet deadlines
About us
Kendal Primary Care Network currently consists of three practices, Captain French Surgery, the James Cochrane Practice and Station House Surgery, all based in the same town, offering Primary Care to over 38,000 patients
Job responsibilities
Key Objectives & Responsibilities
The following are the core responsibilities of this PCN General Practice Assistant role. There may be, on occasion, a requirement to carry out other tasks, dependent upon factors such as workload and staffing levels.
Patient Clinical Services & Administration
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Work closely as part of the Care Home Team and attend monthly meetings
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Completing simple clinical observations & investigations as directed locally, such as dipstick urine, taking blood pressure, ECGs, diabetic foot checks, support stocking measurements and phlebotomy
-
Complete Care Home learning disability reviews and maintaining the review spreadsheet that details long term condition reviews, care plans and structured medication reviews
-
Conducting IT searches to ascertain patient registration with nearest GP Practice and encourage re-registration with patients, families and staff when required
-
Completing basic (non-opinion) forms and core elements of some forms for the GP to approve
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Supporting the PCN with immunisations, including the Covid Vaccination Programme for Care Homes, Housebound patients and clinics
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A small amount of Administration and support to the KICC Team
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Work across the PCN to improve care for target cohorts of patients, as directed by PCN Clinical Director
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Other clinical responsibilities, as required
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Throughout this work you will work to care home, practice and PCN protocols
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Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly
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Be familiar in all mediums of communications such as email, EMIS tasks, telephone etc
Training and Education
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Participation in an annual individual performance review, including taking responsibility for maintaining a record of own personal and/or professional development
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Taking responsibility for own development, learning and performance and demonstrating skills and activities to others who are undertaking similar work
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Attend all relevant annual updates
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Inform the lead GP of any concerns regarding GPA role and any professional development needed
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Be aware of own professional boundaries and what to do when you have reached them
Confidentiality
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In the performance of the duties outlined in this Job Description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, practice staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to the Practice as a business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential
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Information relating to patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the Practice may only be divulged to authorised persons in accordance with the Practice policies and procedures relating to confidentiality and the protection of personal and sensitive data
General
The post holder will:
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Participate in, and help to develop, a culture that promotes equality and values diversity. The post holder must be aware of and committed to the Equality and Diversity policies of the appointing GP Federation and comply with all the requirements of these policies and actively promote Equality and Diversity issues relevant to the post.
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Ensure the principles of openness, transparency and candour are observed and upheld in all working practices.
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Have, or acquire through training provided by the organisation, the appropriate level of safeguarding and knowledge, skills and practice required for the post and be aware of and comply with the organisations safeguarding protection policies and procedures.
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Ensure that any infection prevention and control issues are reported to their line manager.
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The post-holder will participate in any training programme implemented by the PCN as part of this employment.
This job description is not exhaustive and may change as the post develops, but such change will not take place without consultation between the post holder and his/her manager. Job descriptions should be reviewed at least annually at the appraisal meeting.
There is a need to travel between sites, therefore ability to drive and use of own car is essential.
WHEN APPLYING FOR THIS ROLE, PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR MOBILE NUMBER ON YOUR APPLICATION SO WE CAN CONTACT YOU IF NEEDED.
Person Specification
Personal Qualities
Essential
- Flexibility to work outside of core office hours
- Commitment to ongoing professional development
- Punctual and committed to role
- Good judgement when speaking with patients
- Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check
- Clear understanding of confidentiality
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